


oh christmas tree

by vonseal



Series: out of this world [2]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Tree, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 01:58:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13136751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonseal/pseuds/vonseal
Summary: it was a stupid christmas tree, but myungjun was attached.





	oh christmas tree

**Author's Note:**

> **STOP**
> 
>  
> 
> if you have not read [OUT OF THIS WORLD](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10866918/chapters/24138495) i suggest you do so. if you dont want to, a tl;dr: myungjun is an alien, the end. thats all. so they're buying a tree bc what else do aliens and their human boyfriends do? they buy christmas trees.

Explaining Christmas to someone who had never even heard of _holidays_ before, Jinwoo realized, was such an odd task. He first tried to make it as simple as possible: “It's a holiday about giving presents and enjoying time with family.”

Myungjun looked impressed with Jinwoo's knowledge. “What's a holiday?” he questioned.

“It's just a special day set aside for an event.”

“What event is Christmas set aside for?”

Jinwoo sighed, and he grabbed Myungjun's gloved hand as they walked down the street, swinging it in between their bodies. “It's just _Christmas_. With lights and food and Santa Claus and Christmas trees.”

“What's a Santa Claus?” Myungjun asked, inquisitive gaze never once leaving Jinwoo's face. “And don't we have lights on every single day? And what makes a Christmas tree different from a regular tree?”

There were many questions; Jinwoo, fortunately, had all the time in the world to explain Christmas to Myungjun.

He seemed to grasp most of the basic concepts. He was frightened of the concept of a jolly, old man climbing down their chimney and eating their food, and he worried about Jinwoo's electric bill should they actually string up Christmas lights anywhere. He seemed to appreciate the idea of extra food, just so long as he could have his usual smoothie, and he asked Jinwoo to write down everything he could possibly want on his Christmas wish-list.

But, for some reason, he really couldn't wrap his mind around a Christmas tree.

Jinwoo showed him pictures, took him to places that already had their trees set up, but Myungjun didn't understand it.

“Why on Earth,” he started asking as Jinwoo led him through a small Christmas tree farm, “would you chop a perfectly good tree from its home and stick it _inside_. From everything I've read, trees are supposed to be _outside_.”

“It's a similar concept with that little cactus I have on my windowsill,” Jinwoo responded, checking over the price tags of a few trees. His mother _loved_ Christmas, and she would always ensure the family had a _real_ tree for the holidays. They usually had large ones that made the entire house smell of pine, with lights strung artfully across branches and tinsel hung from every open area. Since he had moved away, though, Jinwoo never had money nor space to set up a large tree in his house. But he wanted Myungjun to get a full experience of Christmas, as it was his first one on Earth, and if that involved shelling out the last of his paycheck for something he would toss out in three weeks, then so be it.

“None of these look like they're planted right now,” Myungjun pointed out, kneeling to examine the trunks. “The trees in your front yard always are inside of the ground. This one _isn't_. None of these are. Jinwoo, you told me that if you cut down a tree, it dies.” Large eyes looked up at Jinwoo. “Are these trees going to die?”

Jinwoo had nothing to say but the truth. “I mean, after a while, they will.”

“That's awful!”

“No, it's...it's fine, Myungjun. Look, the trees will last for a bit, and, and they're going to die regardless. It's just sooner rather than later. At least with _us_ , they'll look pretty before their death.” When Myungjun still seemed appalled, Jinwoo sighed and tried a new tactic. “They don't feel pain, sweetheart.”

Myungjun gave a small huff. “Even _I_ know that!” he exclaimed, and he stood back up again, grasping onto Jinwoo's arm. “Which one are we going to dress up and look pretty?”

Jinwoo had become used to Myungjun's sudden change in attitude and demeanor, and he just smiled and rolled his eyes. “A small one,” he responded, pulling Myungjun closer in to him. The boy giggled and embraced the new warmth and affection in an instant, nuzzling his cold nose into Jinwoo's neck. “How about...this one?”

Jinwoo, with his free hand, gestured to the smallest tree he could find. It was definitely a dinky little thing, with half its needles already gone and a lopsided tilt to its stature. And, despite how ugly it was, Myungjun gasped and nodded his head enthusiastically, dragging Jinwoo over to the poor, worn-down tree. “This one is _perfect_!” he exclaimed. “It's the cutest tree here! What should his name be?”

“Christmas Tree?” Jinwoo offered.

Myungjun clapped his hands together. “Perfect!” he repeated. “I'll buy it!”

“No, _I'm_ paying. It...it isn't that much, not really. See? Pretty cheap for a tree.” He shelled out the correct amount of won, ignoring the sales person who attempted to direct him to a better tree, a more expensive tree.

(“This one is only on clearance, maybe as a last-minute resort. It's especially ugly, not the sort of tree that would look great in your living room,” the young woman announced desperately.

Jinwoo just pointed to Myungjun, who had wrapped his arms around the tree and was giving it warm regards and words of gratitude, promising to forever love and protect it.

“My boyfriend is attached,” Jinwoo told the lady, depositing the change in her hand.)

They carried it home together. It wasn't particularly large, nor was it heavy. The pine needles kept falling off as they walked home, leaving a green trail behind them, but Myungjun didn't seem to mind. He kept talking about how they would beautify it, how it would become the best-looking tree in the entire world. Jinwoo at first didn't think so, but the more Myungjun assured him, the more Jinwoo began to believe it to be true.

After all, it wasn't as if Myungjun would make _anything_ look bad. As long as they took their Christmas photo standing next to the tree, as long as Myungjun was there, it would be perfect.

Of course, once they arrived home, Jinwoo asked, “How the hell do we set this up, Myungjun?”

Myungjun shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you would know,” he responded. “You know everything about Christmas trees. You've done a lot of research on them, I think.”

“Not really.” Jinwoo leaned the tree up against the far wall for now. “I just remembered it from my childhood. Mom _always_ set up a tree in our house.” He stared at the tiny, stupid tree for a moment and finally sighed. “Okay, so I _think_ we need a Christmas tree stand and some screws or something for it. A tree skirt, too, we don't have one of those.”

“What _do_ we have?”

Jinwoo glanced around and winced. “Um,” he said intelligently, “lights? A few ornaments I bought? And that's, um, that's...it.”

“Okay!” Myungjun didn't seem deterred. “So we just go buy the things we're missing, right?”

“I'm out of money.”

Myungjun scoffed and dug around in his pocket, pulling forth some loose change and proudly showing it off to Jinwoo. “Don't worry, Jinjin. I've got you covered. You can't say I'm a useless boyfriend.”

“I would _never_ say that!” Jinwoo exclaimed. He counted out Myungjun's change – it might have been enough for a pack of gum. He didn't want to ruin his boyfriend's happiness, though, so he pushed the change gently back into Myungjun's hand and smiled. “How about we just forgo the tree stand and the screws and the skirt, and we can figure it out ourselves?” he asked. “All we need to do is make it stand up somehow!”

Myungjun, blissfully unaware of how difficult the task would be, grinned back at Jinwoo and stuffed the money into his pockets once more. “Okay!” he said. “Most trees outside are buried into the ground, so I think if we bury this one-”

“We're not digging a hole in my floor, Myungjun.”

Myungjun didn't seem very satisfied with _that_ response, but he accepted it as wisdom from someone who had experience living on Earth. He shot out a few other ideas, and short of, “if I had a spaceship still, I could probably go travel to a different planet and find aliens who might have some advice,” he had nothing of value to add.

They tried to prop it up solely by itself with a few bedsheets surrounding it to give it some sort of weight. It stayed up for three seconds – and then it fell on top of Myungjun, who crashed into the ground with a loud yelp.

Jinwoo felt blessed that he was too poor to afford an _actual_ tree, a good tree, because otherwise, Myungjun would probably be squashed by the weight. As it were, the tree was easy enough to pick up. Myungjun was covered with bristles and needles, but he wiped himself down relatively quickly, then shot a beaming smile towards Jinwoo. His hair was mussed and his cheeks were red, but he looked in great spirits.

“Christmas Tree is a little stubborn, isn't it?” he joked.

Jinwoo couldn't help it; he leaned forward, one hand holding the Christmas tree in its place, and then planted a soft kiss to Myungjun's bottom lip. When he drew back, Myungjun looked more than pleased.

“A little stubborn,” Jinwoo admitted. “Reminds me of someone...”

Myungjun nodded, seeming to understand, but his words were different from what Jinwoo was thinking. “Oh, yeah. Sanha. He's very stubborn, isn't he?”

“Sure. Sanha. _That's_ who always gives me trouble. Not the silly alien that takes up more than half the bed space.”

Myungjun blinked innocently. “I have no clue what you're talking about!” he announced with a gasp, and Jinwoo laughed, nudging Myungjun's shoulder once before turning his attention back to the stupid tree.

In the end, it seemed the only thing left to do was leave it leaning up against the wall it had originally been on. Myungjun didn't seem to mind; he still took the time to toss lights over it (literally, toss – he had given up after a few minutes, and Jinwoo, already exhausted from dealing with Christmas Tree in the first place, declined the pleas of assistance) and they both hung up ornaments together. They were plain, plastic ornaments, mostly a mix of red and blue (Jinwoo wanted red and _green_ for an actual Christmas feel, but Myungjun had insisted on a bright blue color because it reminded him of rain, and he liked rain a lot). All in all, it was quite an ugly tree. When they stepped back to admire it, Jinwoo realized it didn't look even partially as pretty as he had expected it to – shocking, considering he had lowered his expectations already.

“Well,” Jinwoo said with a loud sigh, “I'm sorry, Myungjun.”

“For what?” Myungjun was smiling widely still, plump lips pulled back to reveal shining teeth, and he hopped once happily before grabbing Jinwoo and pulling him in a tight hug. “We made Christmas Tree look _beautiful!_ Now he can painlessly die in our living room!”

“Oh, wow, that put me in the Christmas spirit,” Jinwoo replied, and he sat down, admiring their _terrible_ handiwork. He felt bad for the poor tree. At least in the Christmas tree farm, it had some sort of dignity, being around other bare trees of its sort. Now, here, it was dressed up in the worst fashion ever, shoved up against a wall to keep from falling.

At least it had Myungjun to fawn over it. That could honestly put anyone in such a great mood.

Myungjun, after cooing to the tree for a few extra minutes and straightening out their lopsided star (he just made it bend all the more – Jinwoo said nothing of it), finally sat down next to Jinwoo, instantly curling into his side. Jinwoo didn't even have to think about it before wrapping his arms around Myungjun and planting a kiss onto his cheek, adoring the giggle that his boyfriend made.

“Next time, let's get a nice tree,” Jinwoo whispered.

“This one _is_ nice. The nicest tree ever. We made it pretty _together_. It's _our tree_ until it dies. I think it's perfect.”

Myungjun usually had strange ideas of the world, but when he explained his thoughts and his mindset, it all seemed to _work_. It was all fueled by his love and affection for everything around him; as crazy as he could be, he was _happy_ , and he made Jinwoo happy, and that was all Jinwoo wanted in a partner, really.

Someone to love, and someone who could love him back.

“Myungjun?”

“Hm?”

Jinwoo smiled again, kissing Myungjun's lips softly. Myungjun melted into the kiss, sighing blissfully as they drew back, and then Jinwoo murmured, “Merry Christmas, Myungjun.”

“Thank you!” was Myungjun's response, and he grinned widely. “Should we get ready for the old man to come down our chimney? What is a chimney, though? Do we _have_ a chimney?”

He supposed this Christmas would just be an Intro to Christmas type of holiday, but Jinwoo didn't mind one bit.

 

**Author's Note:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS
> 
> i wanted to have another christmas fic out, but it looks like i might not get it out in time? maybe if i have time later on tomorrow, i might post it, but for now, pls enjoy this!!!
> 
> FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT YET WOKEN UP TO CHRISTMAS MORNING, HAVE A FANTASTIC ONE!!!
> 
> also come see me [@vonseal](http://www.vonseal.tumblr.com) for all your cheery needs. aka i have a queue tomorrow. its a normal queue. nothing cool. but i'll stop talking, resume your evening.


End file.
